It was violent, it was scary and it completely overshadowed what was otherwise a very polished showing from the label. Very senior-level editors, buyers, photographers and stylists were stuck inside this mosh pit - some squashed so tight that both feet hovered off the ground - for over half an hour until the front-of-house production team was able to manage the crowd. While the spirit of inclusivity is admirable, hundreds of men and women were pushing, shoving, trampling and hitting each other in order to inch closer to the door. Abloh disciples without invitations attempting to gatecrash (and who spilled over from an Off-White pop-up shop held earlier in the day) were likely to blame for the mob scene a young French boy even stopped Maura and I on the street to ask if he could tag along with us. Cops were screaming instructions in French, blowing whistles and forcefully pushing ticket holders out of the street to allow cars to pass. On Thursday evening, on a tight block off Rue Cambon, a full-on riot broke out at the entrance to the Off-White venue, proving that Abloh's reached such a high level of hype that people are willing to put each other in danger just to get a piece of him. Hell, he claims he used to do it himself, and he's invited his Instagram followers to shows in the past! What could possibly go wrong?Īs it turns out, a lot. All things considered, it's not too surprising that - despite his bonafide celebrity status - many of his fans and customers likely see him as an approachable peer who probably wouldn't mind terribly if they tried to sneak into his show at Paris Fashion Week. Abloh has also positioned himself as a champion of the youth, giving talks at the likes of Harvard and Columbia and preaching a DIY lifestyle. Off-White's signature graphic hoodies, industrial belts, binder clip bags and "quotation mark" branding have not only become surefire street style and Instagram bait, but they also often sell out just days after they're stocked. His "The Ten" collection for Nike was nearly impossible to buy at retail, and resellers are able to flip them for thousands of dollars like it's nothing. The same can be said about Off-White's Virgil Abloh - a frequent West creative collaborator - whose levels of hype are among the highest in the industry.
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